the Informer

Courtesy Of Aceshowbiz.com

If there’s one thing that author Nicholas Sparks is known for it’s having the ability to strike the most fragile cord within the hearts of his readers with the most gripping tales of love, loss and courage.

“Dear John” is his latest venture into transforming the raw effectiveness of his novels into a big screen blockbuster. If you’ve ever seen “Nights in Rodanthe,” “A Walk to Remember” or “The Notebook” you know that inevitably by the end of the movie you will be drying your tears alongside everyone else in the theater.

As come to be expected from the works of Sparks, death and disappointment hover over the entire plot line. This doesn’t take away from the appeal of the story though; in keeping with tradition Sparks delivers a tear jerking portrayal of love in the face of a very real situation, in this case, 9/11.

“Dear John” begins with its soldier being wounded in the line of fire. Then with a flashback we are taken to the happier days of when John Tyree (Channing Tatum) met Savannah Lyn Curtis (Amanda Seyfried) in the spring of 2001.

John is on leave from his Special Forces Unit of the Army visiting his father on the coast of South Carolina, Savannah is spending her spring break at home repairing a house damaged by a hurricane. John is the dark, brooding bad boy with the shady past, while Savannah is the always cheerful good girl who is the epitome of everything pure.

Although it may sound like the makings for a very unoriginal plot, director Lasse Hallstorm brings a wholesome quality to a story very relevant to many in our country’s time of war. Seyfried’s and Tatum’s onscreen chemistry seems quite effortless and makes the story very compelling.

Savannah unavoidably returns to school, while John returns to Germany to finish out the remainder of his service. After their two weeks spent together the lovers vow to write each other letters as often as possible so that they can remain in each other’s hearts until they are reunited once again.

However their plans don’t quite work out as they hoped for after the events that transpire on 9/11 lead to John reenlisting, and with the hardships of a long distance relationship Savannah is unable to wait for him any longer.

The pinnacle of emotion however appears when John is sent home to visit his father who just suffered from a stroke. This emotionally wrought scene develops upon John and his father’s non-existent relationship. They experience a bonding moment when John describes the thoughts he had right after being shot. First he thought of his father and the coin collection they had together and then, of course, he thought of Savannah.

The likability of the main characters was definitely this movie’s strength. How could you not root for two young lovers to overcome life’s obstacles and find a way back to each other?

Although many found the films ending dissatisfying and way too far fetched from the ending of the novel itself, it was a nice wrap up to the events that led up to that point.

We’re inevitably left deciding the fate of their relationship ourselves rather then being force fed a typically romantic ending to a film that deserves to be left to interpretation.

Critics may doubt the films ability to compete with Sparks’ previous films, but I believe it to be a great and very relevant love story that will hit home to many viewers that have found themselves in the same situation that John and Savannah had the misfortune of enduring.